NATURAL LIGHTING

VS.
ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING
INTRODUCTION:
• The fact that natural lighting plays a crucial role in our everyday
actions and functions, is a common knowledge. However, not all
the locations around the globe can enjoy long sunny days and
people do need light to properly do all the work: be it in school,
workplace or household. Nevertheless, people tend to overuse
artificial light, especially in situations where natural light is
available or at least its levels could be increased. In this article,
we will highlight the main advantages of both natural and artificial
lighting. We are also going to reveal some answers to the big
question, namely – which one is better: natural or artificial light?
Plus, some useful tips on how to maximize the amount of natural
light in your home and workspace will be given in the last section
of this article.
BENEFITS OF NATURAL LIGHT
• While the importance of natural light has been a common
knowledge for many centuries, now we have science that has
also explored natural light and revealed some significant findings
on how natural light can be connected to our health, mood and
habits (such articles as “Skylighting and Retail Sales: An
Investigation Into the Relationship Between Daylighting and
Human Performance”, “Daylighting Impacts on Retail Sales
Performance” and “Daylighting in Schools: An Investigation into
the Relationship between Daylighting and Human Performance”
are just a few examples to be mentioned). The benefits of natural
light, however, are related with other life-spheres as well, such as
budget and interior design.
Accordingly, we can list the main acknowledged benefits of natural
light which are:

1. Day-lit rooms increase the productivity and comfort of people living in

them;
2. Access to natural light helps to improve one’s circadian rhythms;
3. Working in daylight boosts one’s mood and motivation; the work is done
faster, it involves more pleasure and the results are generally better;
4. Since natural lighting reminds people of the outdoors, it creates a calmer
indoor environment, reducing one’s stress;
5. Utilizing natural light up to the maximum can help to decrease the amount
of electricity spent thus reducing monthly electricity bills;
6. Studying in daylight improves study results. There is a proved correlation
between classrooms with good natural light and improved student
performance and even attendance.
BENEFITS OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
Of course, we can’t always enjoy the benefits of natural light, especially during
the nights. If we would strictly work only in the natural light, our day would be a lot shorter
and we would simply be forced to go to sleep very early. The electric light bulb was
invented for a reason and there are many advantages of using artificial light as well:

1. Artificial light gives us extra time for work, studies, and leisure. Majority of modern
artificial lights can mimic natural light or at least have an effect very close to it, which
means that they allow us to extend our work-day. Some people even prefer to work
during night-hours, spending hours sitting in their London office furniture in the glow of
artificial lights. And without artificial lighting simply would not be possible;
2. Artificial light serves as a great design tool. Be it interior or exterior design, different sort
of light (e.g. highlights and light strings) is used as a decorative tool that helps to
create pleasant and cozy atmosphere and illuminate particular parts of the house;
3. Artificial light can increase your safety. This is more related
to outdoor lighting, more parti cularly – solar flood lights – but
also concerns our safety indoors. Without proper lighting, the
chances of acci dents are a lot higher plus a lot of people like
to use illumination of their house and yard during the darkest
hours of the day as an extra security tool ;

4. Additional possibilities. Artificial lighting allows us not only

to perform many tasks ev en when it is dark outside, but it also
has stimulated other industries and possibilities such as indoor
gardening. Thanks to artificial lighting, it is now possible to
grow different plants indoors, whi ch is a great opportunity for
people who live i n places where summers are very short .
Which one is better for your workspace and home:
Natural or Artificial Light?
• Now, this is a very tricky question to ask. Of course, it is suggested that we spend
as much time in natural daylight as possible, but what to do in the case when it
is not really possible? Proper lighting is one of the key interior aspects for such
tasks as desktop work, studies, reading, sewing and so on. Basically, it is crucial
for all the tasks that require you to actively engage your eyes and
concentration.

• In that case, no one should hold on to the very last minute of daylight, before
turning that light switch on. There is no need to constantly have your lights on if
you have large windows and your room receives a lot of daylight, but not many
offices and schools can really provide such opportunities and hence it is
necessary to find efficient artificial light, which would not be too bright and too
dim.
• While there is no solid answer and this turns out to be
an even competition between natural and artificial
lighting, there is quite a lot you could do to include
more of natural daylight in your home and workspace,
additionally to artificial lighting.
How to maximize the amount of natural light
indoors?

• As said, natural light is very important and it can be very helpful in

boosting one’s mood and productivity, plus it can even be helpful
in eliminating stress and depression. However, not every house
designer thinks about these issues upon engineering a building
and a lot of people are forced to move in homes where all the
potential of natural light has not been used up to its maximum.
 Here are a few methods of how you can maximize the
amount of natural light indoors:
a. Add windows. Extending your current windows will greatly contribute to allowing
more sunlight to fill your space. Of course, unless you are an architect yourself, you
will need a help of a professional to see how to do it the best way, but there is a
possibility to add more windows nearly in every case;
b. Install tubular daylighting devices or skylights. This technology is built specially for
transferring more daylight inside a room. Installation of these won’t be the easiest
of processes, but in the end, it will surely be all worth it;
c. Think about glass doors. This can be applied not only to the front doors from where
a lot of light could reach the indoor space, but also should be thought of in terms
of the doors of all the rooms. Use frosted glass doors if you think you won’t be able
to enjoy your privacy with a completely transparent door;
d. Place mirrors around the rooms. Mirrors will reflect all the daylight that your room
can receive, enhancing the overall amount of it inside. Placed on the correct sides
of the room, mirrors can surely have a significant effect on increasing the amount
of natural daylight and creating more warm vibes.